Rod Rosenstein, Christopher Wray testify before House on DOJ

Author: CBS News
Published: Updated:
FBI Director Christopher Wray, right, leaves the White House, Monday, May 21, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray are testifying before the House Judiciary Committee for another round of questioning into actions by the Justice Department and FBI surrounding the 2016 election. They are set to be asked about the DOJ’s inspector general’s report which criticized the leadership and judgment of both departments during their handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

The report had zeroed in on former FBI Director James Comey and the decisions he made during the course of the investigation, describing him as “insubordinate.” It also criticized FBI official Peter Strzok for creating the appearance of deep political bias in the Clinton email probe and raising concerns about the larger issue of contempt and bias against President Trump within the FBI.

This will be the second time Wray has offered his testimony in two weeks. He has since laid out plans for next steps in addressing and stopping political bias from taking place at the nation’s top investigatory bureau. He was previously questioned before the Senate Judiciary Committee along with Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

Highlights of Thursday’s hearing

Political Bias 

Chairman Bob Goodlatte began his opening remarks at the hearing saying the DOJ IG report revealed “bias in top echelons in the FBI during a hotly contested president election and revealed agents, lawyers and analysts held profound bias against Donald Trump and in favor of Hillary Clinton.” His comments come as Strzok participated in an over 11 hour-long interview before a closed meeting of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform Committees. Text messages exchanged between Strzok and fellow FBI official Lisa Page showed contempt for Mr. Trump throughout the FBI’s investigation.

Goodlatte urged the DOJ and FBI to “hold people accountable” as a result of the report’s finding and prevent similar events from ever happening again.

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